Bonded

Twenty-Nine

"Are you sure you can't stay over Christmas Callie?" Natalie asked for the thousandth time.

"I'm sorry Natalie, but I have to go home to see my Grandpa and Remus," Calliope gave the same reply, "it might be good for you to see your parents, maybe you can make up over Christmas!"

"No way," Natalie crossed her arms in a grumpy manner, "and my stupid brothers will be there too with their menace kids! I'd rather stick my head up the arse of a blast-ended-screwt then spend Christmas with them!" 

Natalie's two brothers were considerably older than her. In fact, she was closer in age to her two Nephews and Niece then she was to her brothers. Natalie didn't get on with her brothers and she hardly mentioned them unless it was to complain about them, their wives or their children.

"I suppose I'll just have to spend another Christmas in hell," Natalie sighed. It was hard for Calliope to tell if Natalie was being dramatic or not. She was often dramatic about small things, like stubbing her toe or dropping a book, but Calliope had noticed the angry looks that Natalie gave any letter sent to her by her parents, she had spotted the fact that Natalie no longer replied to any letter that they send her and she couldn't help but feel as if she was to blame. Natalie had mentioned at the start of the year that her parents didn't want her to remain friends with Calliope, Natalie had blatantly avoided this advice, and it seemed that the friendship that the two girls shared was driving a rift between Natalie and her family.

"You can spend Christmas with me if you'd like," Calliope suggested, "I'm sure my Grandpa wouldn't mind."

"Really?" Natalie's face lit up, "Callie that would be amazing! Are you sure?"

"Nat, you're my sister, of course, I'm sure."

********

Natalie was filled with excitement for the entire last day of term in anticipation of spending Christmas with the Doges. Calliope was not feeling quite so excited. The whispers were loud in her ears, mumbling words that she couldn't understand, leading her to be quite distracted in lessons, and feeling a great sense of foreboding. This whispers only appeared when something bad was about to happen.

Fred asked her on numerous occasions if she was okay, and she waved him off each time, promising that she was fine. She didn't expect him to believe her, she had found that it was near impossible for her to lie to Fred, as since discovering that they could sense each other's emotions he had become far more in tune with Calliope's, more so than she could sense his, as she could only feel strong emotions radiating from him.

Calliope excused herself around lunchtime and headed back to her dorm, where she hoped it would be quiet. She found her room deserted, and laid back on her bed, closing her eyes and attempting to interpret what the whispers were telling her.

But she couldn't decipher a word that they were telling her.